Check out how Nadine of GirlsLoveYourCurls, stretches her daughter's hair without the use of heat!

Have you ever used the African Threading technique?

Share your experiences below!

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Fashion Legallaire
said...

My mom used to thread my hair like tihs all the time. Sadly, back then I thought it made me look less beautiful so I didn't like when she did it. but now that I'm older and Natural again, I will definitely put this legend hair technique back in to my hair regimen. #Onelove #Nigerian

Wow...I have never tried this in my daughter's hair nor did I even know what "African Threading" was, this was a very informative video and interesting. I will try this soon. I need to get a few tools first.

I was going to comment to say the same thing. My mom also used the threading technique on my hair, and it was always one of my least favorite hairstyles growing up. But I like the way Nadine used it to make 2 french braids. #Nigerian

Hi Courtney, Iactually use weave thread that is used in hair for sew-in weaves and extensions.It's pretty thick so it's strong and doesn't cut into your hair. As with allbraiding, so long as you don't pull it too tight along the hairline you'll befine. :) Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment.

My mom used to do this with me and my sister's hair when we were young! I hated the look of it back then, but it always left my hair soft and streched afterward. Time to go back to it :) I'm Ghanian by the way.

Hey RoGina! I do it on my hair all the time. Although I don't take the time to make it look as pretty as I do on my girls (messy/uneven parts etc) BUT, I do get a really great stretch at the end of it. I just keep a cute scarf or hat handy if I need to pop out during the process...lol. Give it a try, it won't be very neat at first, but you'll get better with practice :).

I never knew what African threading was. I thought it would be crazy hard but this looks easy. I'm transitioning right now (almost 7 months) and will try this the next time I want a straight look for the roots for a week or so. Thansk

How long does this process take? It seems rather time consuming....My hair gets pretty stretched after a braid out, but I wouldn't mind trying this in the future for a different look. My hair does not like blow dryers. lol

I've been to her site before and she has a beautiful family. She's very detailed and explains her styles so well. I'm sure her girls are the envy of their school. This reminded me to go back to threading....it was a little tedious the first time I tried it but I think I can develop a pattern to make it more beneficial for my hair. I need to practice more. I also loved how the color of the thread blended into my natural hair color and made my hair take on the shape of the style of the thread. People were constantly asking how I got my hair to do that. I bought my hair thread at Sally's Beauty Supply, really cheap.

Hi, Nadine! Thank you for answering! I checked out your youtube channel and I think I can swing it on my own hair. I'm going out and buying weave thread tomorrow. Thank you for your wonderful tutorials, I had seen this before but had no idea how to begin.

This is a really cute hairstyle, and it looks really effective at stretching, but I am wondering about how much tension it puts on the hair? From the video it looks like the tension is basically from root to tip because the thread pinches on the entire hair shaft. Has anyone noticed more or less length retention when repeatedly using this style?

My mom used to do this to my hair when I was younger (she's from Ghana), and I thought it looked so weird, but people would always compliment the designs she put it in! I appreciate it more now, but I don't think I would do it on myself because it would take eons. If I had a daughter I would probably like doing this on her, though, it seems like a good way to keep your child's hair managed!

Hello Rebecca! That's a good question. But, noyou can't ruin your curl pattern using African Threading. I don't like usinghair typing, but I guess we would be considered 4b/c and we have no curldefinition to speak of. In the video you'll see that when her hair is wet itactually curls up to half its length, but our curls are so teeny-tiny, theycan't really clump together to make defined curls without the aid of atwist/braid or rollers. Without heat or chemicals, you can't permanently changeyour hair structure, so give it a try on your sister, and let me know how youget on! I promise, her curl pattern will be as beautiful as ever :).

Hello Sunnyd, Please correct me if I'mwrong, but I think you're asking is if the stretch can be permanent withrepeated use? No it doesn’t. Any stretch you get from the tension is completelytemporary. What the thread does is hold our curls straight while they dry, sothey dry straight, but as you see in the video, as soon as hair is exposed tomoisture it curls and shrinks right back - in my daughter's case to 50% of its actuallength. I hope I answered your question. :) Thanks for watching and taking thetime to comment.

How long it takes depends on the length,thickness and texture of your hair. It took me about 35 mins to do my oldestdaughter's hair and my youngest took alittle longer, probably around 45 to 50 mins. The second stretch re-braid tookhalf the time, since I didn't have to make parts or work with wet hair. Give ita try! If your hair doesn't like blow dryers, this is might be a perfect alternative.:) Thanks for watching!

Hi Nadine,No, that's not what I meant. I understand that stretching is not permanent. I am wondering if the hairstyle can weaken (e.g. make it more susceptible to breakage or splitting) the hair over time because it puts a lot of tension on it. I asked the question about length retention because that's always my primary concern; in other words, I ask myself is my hair gaining length or is it stagnating at the same length (or, yikes, getting shorter). I'm one of those people who don't even use hair pins, brushes, or clips because they pinch the hair and weaken it over time. I also try to avoid tying my hair too tightly in a ponytail or bun because the tension that it places on the root of the hair can cause the hair to thin over time. I actually have an area on my head that is noticeably thinner from years of tight ponytails when I was a teenager. The reason why I commented is because I think the hairstyle is cute and I want to do it, but I am concerned that it may put too much tension on the hair.

Hey Sunnyd, Ohright, sorry! I understand now. I can only relay my own experiences with it. Growing up myhair was African threaded 100% of the time. Despite Vaseline being our onlyhair product and "moisturizing" being a foreign word in our house(lol), we all had long healthy hair. Since my daughters grew enough hair(around 3 years old), I'd say I've use African threaded protective styles atleast 95% of the time, probably more. Their hair retention has been prettygood, so I can only attribute it to African Threading. As with any braidingthough, you always have to watch that you don't pull too tightly at the scalp.We have VERY unforgiving hair lines in my family, which I learnt the hard wayafter continuously wearing braid extensions as a teen (Once I got older, I wanted nothing to dowith African threading...lol). As a result my hairline thinned out permanently.For this reason I am extra cautious about not pulling too tightly at the scalp.

I always say though, nobody knows your hair better than you do. You know howmuch tension your hair can take, so maybe try it once and see if it's right foryou? I rarely do extension braids for the very same reason. It works perfectlywell for others, but I know that if I do it, I will pay the price. I hope I answeredyour question this time J. Iappreciate your comment.

Although I have been on a deep and personal quest to find the perfect stretching method that would best show my length I can honestly say that I won't be trying this method. At least not on myself, I might be tempted to try it on my daughters one day but honestly I am far too lazy for this. lol I truthfully and freely admit that! I did write a review about this on my blog and I definitely will keep this technique in mind.

I am glad that you explained this because I was also puzzled by how I would perform this on my own hair. I am still not interested in attempting on myself though because of the time involved. How long does it take you roughly to complete the entire process?

I had never heard of African threading until now, but it seems like a great way to stretch natural hair. If I were younger I would totally show this to my mom and have her do this to my hair, but unfortunately im an adult, and it seems like too much work for one person to do to themselves :( ... However, I will definitely keep this in mind for when I have kids.

I have done this with pipe cleaners (same technique, easier to manipulate, same basic results, but harder to sleep on, lol) but I have yet to do this with actual thread.

To the person who asked about the hair texture changing: This is probably one of the safest, if not THE safest, ways to smooth out 4b/4c hair without permanently damaging the texture. It just makes you wonder, AGAIN, why people rely on harsh dangerous chemicals and potentially scarring heat weapons for styling their children's hair. Oh right...TIME. Well, as Nadine pointed out in the video, the threaded style can be left in for up to a week or even longer, so there goes that excuse...

I love this YT channel precisely because it demonstrates that 4b/4c hair is NOT impossible to care for in its natural state. Thanks Nadine and Nikki for sharing.

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